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Surface Electromyography Meets Biomechanics: Correct Interpretation of sEMG-Signals in Neuro-Rehabilitation Needs Biomechanical Input

Coordinated activation of muscles is the basis for human locomotion. Impaired muscular activation is related to poor movement performance and disability. To restore movement performance, information about the subject's individual muscular activation is of high relevance. Surface electromyograph...

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Autores principales: Disselhorst-Klug, Catherine, Williams, Sybele
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7793912/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33424754
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fneur.2020.603550
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author Disselhorst-Klug, Catherine
Williams, Sybele
author_facet Disselhorst-Klug, Catherine
Williams, Sybele
author_sort Disselhorst-Klug, Catherine
collection PubMed
description Coordinated activation of muscles is the basis for human locomotion. Impaired muscular activation is related to poor movement performance and disability. To restore movement performance, information about the subject's individual muscular activation is of high relevance. Surface electromyography (sEMG) allows the pain-free assessment of muscular activation and many ready-to-use technologies are available. They enable the usage of sEMG measurements in several applications. However, due to the fact that in most rehabilitation applications dynamic conditions are analyzed, the correct interpretation of sEMG signals remains difficult which hinders the spread of sEMG in clinical applications. From biomechanics it is well-known that the sEMG signal depends on muscle fiber length, contraction velocity, contraction type and on the muscle's biomechanical moment. In non-isometric conditions these biomechanical factors have to be considered when analyzing sEMG signals. Additionally, the central nervous system control strategies used to activate synergistic and antagonistic muscles have to be taken into consideration. These central nervous system activation strategies are rarely known in physiology and are hard to manage in pathology. In this perspective report we discuss how the consideration of biomechanical factors leads to more reliable information extraction from sEMG signals and how the limitations of sEMG can be overcome in dynamic conditions. This is a prerequisite if the use of sEMG in rehabilitation applications is to extend. Examples will be given showing how the integration of biomechanical knowledge into the interpretation of sEMG helps to identify the central nervous system activation strategies involved and leads to relevant clinical information.
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spelling pubmed-77939122021-01-09 Surface Electromyography Meets Biomechanics: Correct Interpretation of sEMG-Signals in Neuro-Rehabilitation Needs Biomechanical Input Disselhorst-Klug, Catherine Williams, Sybele Front Neurol Neurology Coordinated activation of muscles is the basis for human locomotion. Impaired muscular activation is related to poor movement performance and disability. To restore movement performance, information about the subject's individual muscular activation is of high relevance. Surface electromyography (sEMG) allows the pain-free assessment of muscular activation and many ready-to-use technologies are available. They enable the usage of sEMG measurements in several applications. However, due to the fact that in most rehabilitation applications dynamic conditions are analyzed, the correct interpretation of sEMG signals remains difficult which hinders the spread of sEMG in clinical applications. From biomechanics it is well-known that the sEMG signal depends on muscle fiber length, contraction velocity, contraction type and on the muscle's biomechanical moment. In non-isometric conditions these biomechanical factors have to be considered when analyzing sEMG signals. Additionally, the central nervous system control strategies used to activate synergistic and antagonistic muscles have to be taken into consideration. These central nervous system activation strategies are rarely known in physiology and are hard to manage in pathology. In this perspective report we discuss how the consideration of biomechanical factors leads to more reliable information extraction from sEMG signals and how the limitations of sEMG can be overcome in dynamic conditions. This is a prerequisite if the use of sEMG in rehabilitation applications is to extend. Examples will be given showing how the integration of biomechanical knowledge into the interpretation of sEMG helps to identify the central nervous system activation strategies involved and leads to relevant clinical information. Frontiers Media S.A. 2020-12-03 /pmc/articles/PMC7793912/ /pubmed/33424754 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fneur.2020.603550 Text en Copyright © 2020 Disselhorst-Klug and Williams. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Neurology
Disselhorst-Klug, Catherine
Williams, Sybele
Surface Electromyography Meets Biomechanics: Correct Interpretation of sEMG-Signals in Neuro-Rehabilitation Needs Biomechanical Input
title Surface Electromyography Meets Biomechanics: Correct Interpretation of sEMG-Signals in Neuro-Rehabilitation Needs Biomechanical Input
title_full Surface Electromyography Meets Biomechanics: Correct Interpretation of sEMG-Signals in Neuro-Rehabilitation Needs Biomechanical Input
title_fullStr Surface Electromyography Meets Biomechanics: Correct Interpretation of sEMG-Signals in Neuro-Rehabilitation Needs Biomechanical Input
title_full_unstemmed Surface Electromyography Meets Biomechanics: Correct Interpretation of sEMG-Signals in Neuro-Rehabilitation Needs Biomechanical Input
title_short Surface Electromyography Meets Biomechanics: Correct Interpretation of sEMG-Signals in Neuro-Rehabilitation Needs Biomechanical Input
title_sort surface electromyography meets biomechanics: correct interpretation of semg-signals in neuro-rehabilitation needs biomechanical input
topic Neurology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7793912/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33424754
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fneur.2020.603550
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